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Sex for Pay Slows Down Judge's Dayby Norm Kent
You probably do not know Michael Hecht. He just won an election for a
judicial seat in the Superior Court of Pierce County, Washington State,
just on the southern outskirts of Seattle. Don’t congratulate him yet,
though.
It seems that Mr. Hecht is under criminal investigation by the Pierce
County, D.A. for soliciting, meeting, and paying male prostitutes for
sex. As a result, the small office of the Pierce County D.A. has
refused to send lawyers to his courtroom to hear cases. The court has
ground to a halt. Prosecutors are refusing to try their cases before
him.
You probably do not know Michael Hecht. He just won an election for a
judicial seat in the Superior Court of Pierce County, Washington State,
just on the southern outskirts of Seattle. Don’t congratulate him yet,
though.
It seems that Mr. Hecht is under criminal investigation by the Pierce
County, D.A. for soliciting, meeting, and paying male prostitutes for
sex. As a result, the small office of the Pierce County D.A. has
refused to send lawyers to his courtroom to hear cases. The court has
ground to a halt. Prosecutors are refusing to try their cases before
him.
So what happens? Does he just call the case and dismiss them if the
State does not show? I do not think a prosecutor can just refuse to
‘show up.’ I would think petulance does not suffice; that they would
actually have to file a writ of prohibition with a higher court to bar
the judge from hearing any cases. And what are they going to say when
the target has not yet been charged? But that is not what I want to
write about, anyway.
Hecht denies any criminal activity, but otherwise declines to comment.
He is too busy trying to burn the pictures. He accuses supporters of
the judge who he defeated of initiating the complaints. Maybe so, but
the local newspaper now has published the statements of two male
prostitutes who claim to have had sex with Hecht regularly, for money.
Tacoma police and the Attorney General’s Office are reviewing the
allegations, placing the judge under a cloud of infamy. The juicy
article appears here.
https://www.thenewstribune.com/topstories/story/613129.html
Okay, so the judge is not an angel. Whether you are straight or gay, if
you pay to play and get caught, you are going to have a bad day. It
does not matter whether you are a New York governor or a Pierce County
judge.
On this day, everyone is making fun of Michael Phelps today for being
so stupid as to smoke a joint and jeopardize his endorsement packages.
Analogously, I suppose that a new jurist could better serve the public
if he was not sleeping with the 20 year old defendant before him in a
courtroom.
What I do not understand is why the jurist just does not say: “Like
every straight man who ever got horny, I picked up a hooker and had
sex. There are legal brothels in Nevada and red light districts in
Boston. Why should anyone care what I do with my body on my time? It
will not compromise my duties as a jurist or public servant. Get out of
my face.”
Over a 34 year legal career, I have seen how many citizens of high
society, political distinction, and public recognition have patronized
‘citizens of ill repute.’ There is a reason prostitution has been
called the world’s oldest profession. It did not begin with the Red
Light District in Amsterdam and it will not end with Michael Hecht.
Society needs to stop joining in the culture of conformity which
demeans consensual sex for pay as an unlawful act. Today, it may be
safer than eating peanut butter.
What I do not want to see is a streaming series of tearful apologies
from this jurist who knowingly chose to do what he wanted to do. I want
unapologetic defiance, denouncing the law that never should have been
there in the first place. Let Phelps own up to smoking dope. Let Hecht
own up to paying for a trick.
I do not want to hear about the regrets of the New Jersey Governor, the
rehabilitation of Ted Haggart, or the further experiences of Larry
Craig in airport bathrooms. Then there is that whole deal with the
Portland mayor, who apparently just can’t get enough boys. Look what
these son of a bitches do. They go out and enjoy themselves secretly,
and when then get caught publicly, they run to apologize to Larry King.
Screw them all. If they thought with the wrong head, man up and deal
with it.
I do not want to hear about their ‘abuse excuses’. I do not care, if
like Congressman Mark Foley, they were molested as kids, and how tough
they had it. So you were stressed out in your million dollar Palm Beach
home. So is the single mom with a five year old child that needs books
for school. So is the senior whose social security check carries them
only two weeks into the month. So is the young worker in a steel mill
town that has just been shut down.
Persons of power and persuasion who get caught with their pants down
need to stop finding other people to lay it on. If they were more
honest in the first place, the very behavior they find themselves
apologizing for might have already become worthy of indifference and
apathy instead of approbation and shame. Their own silence contributed
to their inevitable demise, and they have no one but themselves to
blame.
Thousands of Americans are out of work and getting screwed by a
collapsing economy, diminution of capital, and a loss of access to
credit, jobs, or opportunity. Let's worry about something other than
hookers and their clients.
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